Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1887-04-12

| causes OF their arrests were of the sad
deSt description. Wives, children, par
ents, brothers and sisters with tear
stained faces stood around the entrances
TO the prison, eager to hear the latest
developments and pleading with the
olncers for admission to the jail to see
the srlsOners. At one O'Clock ten more
men we're captured at the pay car while
receiving their wages, This makes q
total OF hity-siX men now in jail here,
and 1t Is supposed that as many more
nave been apprehended at other points
along the line.
| CONSERVATION AMONG THE FENCES.
CONSERVATION prevails among the pro-
prietors OF the fences and dens where
goods were secreted and sold. In one in
stance the proprietor OF a notorious den
was detected in the act Of burning stolen
property. Nearly 200 warrants are still
out, and it is expected that the list of ar
! rests IN this city will be swelled to eighty
Tonight. A number OF houses IN various
parts OF the city were raided to-day and
a large quantity of goods recovered.
Every man arrested had stolen goods
somewhere. Among the prisoners are
several desperate characters who were
wanted by the police for other offenses.
They we're all armed, and whom not taken
by surprise resisted arrest. Numbers
safely lodged in jail.
ONE OF THE GANG sQUEALs.
The most important arrest made here
was Brakeman Young. He called at the
jail to see one OF the prisoners this morn
ing and was Immediately locked up. AT
first he protested that he was innocent,
but finally admitted that he had large
lot OF property at his house, and told how
the goods mad come into his possession.
This confession, It is said, will convict
thirteen crews. kilograms from Cadiz,
oteubenville and points west of Column
bus report the arrest OF u large mum ber
OF railroad employees implicated In the
robberies. The preliminary hearing will
be held on April Is.
Specials from DennisOn, o., report the
arrest there OF j. II. Dunlap. the leader
Of the gang, and James and w. Coils,
with several thousands Of dollars worth
Of velvets and high priced dry goods in
their possession, articles taken from the
United States bonded cars en- route to
Chicago, st. LOUIS and other points West.
One BusbV, the worst man of the gang,
slipped his handouts and recklessly
threw himself from train whilst it was
going and escaped.
THE DETECTIVES STORY.
To Joseph Rue, Special Agent of the
Pennsylvania Railroad, and Detective
GilkesOn, of this city, is due all the credit
of running the thieves down. In an In
terview with Mr.. Rue this afternoon he
gave the following account of the incep-
tion Of the robberies, their detection, the
modus Operandi Of their execution, etc.:
1.-Two years ago we decided to dispense
with locKs on the cars and introduced
our present system OF seals. The seal is
OF lead, is about the size of a five cent
nickel and is about one-eighth of an inch
in thickness.
A COMPLICATED DEVICE.
''The wire usedin connection with 1t Is
oneSsixteepfh f1Un iron wire. There are
coils in it to prevent its boring through
the lead seal. The wire is passed through
the seal, then through the hasp of the car
and the doors, then back through the seal,
again forming a circle. An instrument
then is used in impressing the seals
That in use, say in Pittsburg, stamps
upon the invoice side the letters "Pg.,
IT," and upon the diverse side "P. st.
L.," thus indicating that the car is intact
when it enters the Pittsburg, Cincinnati
and st. Louis railroad bound westward.
Two wires are ilnbedded at the same
stroke as the letters are imprinted.
Eastern bound trains were not molested.
w estern bound trains have been the SUI
ferers. AS near as we can estimate il
these robberies have been going on for
two years.
TIAIID AT FIRST.
CAT first there was timidItv and they
only occurred at long intervals, then
daily growing bOlder and more general
until lately every train was a sufferer.
We became cognizant OF the robberies
through claims submitted by New York
to the road on the strength OF their west
ern customers. allegations OF broken
packages, both in bulk and in severalty.
the evidence in both cases being positive
that the packages were opened IN transit.
We were puzzleda long time by the rob-
berries as, our reports showed that the
seals were always seemingly intact.
For long time we blamed the extrac-
tions OF the goods upon the roustabouts
at piers twenty-seven and twenty.eight
in New York, ard the Dock street sta
tion at Philadelphia, as nearly all of
our western pound freight was put
in cars at one or the other OF these three
places.
GETTING NEAR THE SCENT.
eve employed detectives and all i'm.
aginable devices, and found finally that
our employees at these points were above
suspicion. Finally we found that the
ropberles were committed between Pitts
burg and DennisOu, and that out OF
eighty crews seVenty-tve were practic1ng
a gigantic scheme OF robbery. We were
badly stalled at first by the fact that the
seals on the cars were generally found in
tact when the cars reached Columbus
on their way westward. Then COM
menced system OF espionage on every
mile OF siding between here and Dennl-
son. Day and night the watch continued.
Meanwhile marked and decoy goods
were used. We found that local
freight was generally untouched, and
that the robberies were committed on the
Union line shipments.
THE MYSTERY SOLVED.
Zone dark night one OF our brightest
men stumbled against the mystery OF the
seals and the method by which they we're
successfully tampered with. Concealed
behind the car he saw freight crew
come TO the Union line car. The wire
was pulled out Of the seal, the door was
thrown back and the car entered, In
short time the men emerged carrying a
lot OF plumber. They made OF TO the Ca
boose and the conductor pulled back the
door, ran the wire through the seal where
IL had been pulled out, and with a board
struck 1t a blow. The wire went back to
its place, the blow united the soft lead
again without destroying the lettering on
either side, and the seal was apparently
untouched. / saw one Of these, and 1t
was only by the closest scrutiny that
person could detect signs OF tampering
with 1t.